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Composed of three parts, the article analyses two famous paintings by Poussin – Landscape with a Man killed by a Snake (“ Paysage avec un homme tué par un serpent”, National Gallery) and Apollo in love with Daphne (“Apollon amoureux de Daphné”, Louvre) – before confronting Poussin with Caravaggio. The argument defended is that both paintings illustrate the failure of Narcissus, and that this theme has, in Poussin’s work, not only psychological and moral meaning, but also a purely aesthetic one as well. Through meticulous and skillful investigation, the enigmatic component contained in both paintings is revealed in a new light, and by following Louis Marin, the comparison between two antagonistic conceptions of pictorial representation is deepened.